A documentation of my struggles (and, hopefully, eventual success) to pay off a decade's worth of debt, overcome some of my worst habits, and turn my life around.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 year end review

2013 brought some incredible changes to my life that impacted my finances and debt reduction mission. I went through a complicated pregnancy that reduced how much I could work but brought home two healthy, adorable (and expensive) additions to our family. I combined finances with S and worked towards having a unified financial outlook with him (not an easy task and will probably be an ongoing battle for years to come). I totaled my car which turned out to financially be a good thing even though I don't recommend it as a way to get out from under a hefty loan. Became a responsible, mature adult (ie. got life insurance, which I think counts as a milestone towards being a responsible, mature adult!).

Through all the financial challenges I only had one goal for the year- no net increase in debt. I knew there would be some trade-offs such as paying down the credit card debt while racking up the medical debt. I hadn't foreseen that S and I would finally decide to look at our finances as one big picture. In order to compare apples to apples I've gone back and added in S' end of 2012 numbers to mine to see if we really did accomplish my one financial goal for 2013...

And to think we started in Oct 2011 with $101,123 in debt!Which all boils down to $27,834 paid off! We've also been building our emergency savings back up and have $100 in savings plus another $200 put away in a savings account for the boys' education/ braces/ band camps/ tattoo removal or whatever other expenses the future holds for them :)